Solar No-Knead Bread II Chased by Mackerel Sky

Solar No-Knead Bread Under a Mackerel Sky

The gods were testing me, yesterday. I wanted to retry the fantastic no-knead bread recipe of a few days ago, just to see if it would react differently with bread flour rather than all-purpose flour and a fresh packet of quick-acting yeast. After the second rising, the bread was ready to bake and I went out into the sunshine to open up the solar oven. What a gorgeous day -- well, under my part of the sky, it was a gorgeous day; but, off to the northeastern horizon, slowly working its way to my neck of the woods was the first mackerel sky I'd seen in months.

 Not fair! Everyone knows a mackerel sky is a portent of some seriously bad weather. No, no, no, the bread must get done, first!  I will push forward. 

The oven had heated up to 250F and my second batch of no-knead bread had risen beautifully. If you recall from my first attempt, the dough barely made it halfway up the bowl. This new batch begun yesterday, has done so much better.

I'm sure it was using the bread flour and fresh quick acting yeast that made the difference. I was going to use the same process as last time (the middle stainless steel mixing bowl with my 5-quart saucepan lid) when I found, hiding in the back of the cabinet, my pyrex covered casserole dish. Aha! This may be just the thing for the second rising.

It was! Isn't that beautiful!

Time for the solar oven -- and, an ominous mackerel sky... It was 11:06 AM when I put on the cover and set it in to bake in the solar oven -- wait! because I added one other step.  I used a SolarWear(tm) Heating Pad, heated in the microwave for five minutes, directly under the casserole to keep heat surrounding the bread. The bread rose to meet the inside of the casserole cover. Now, this is more like it, a nice loaf of bread.  I put the timer on for 35 minutes and went out to check the bread before removing the cover for the browning. Another 20 minutes and it was perfect.

And, just in time, too, because the rain had begun and solar cooking was over for the day.  This worked so well that I'm going to use this casserole dish for all my no-knead breads -- and, make them, I will, because they're delicious. The crust was crunchy and you can see the beautiful height and texture in the first picture. I hope this helps you decide on whether or not you're going to try this wonderful bread for yourself.